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When soft-spoken Leland Irving won the Calgary Flames’ backup job a few days ago, the consensus was it was probably the best news he’d received — professionally, anyway — in a long time.

The news that followed Monday was likely even better.

The Flames have traded fellow puck-stopper Henrik Karlsson to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for a seventh-round selection in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft, leaving Irving as the undisputed sidekick to Miikka Kiprusoff at the Saddledome.

In fact, Irving and Kiprusoff are the only Flames goalies under contract in North America. Irving has only appeared in seven NHL games, but Monday’s move means the 24-year-old can plan on spending this entire winter at the big-league level.

Finally.

“It’s been a long time coming, a lot of hard work. It doesn’t just happen overnight,” Irving said after surviving the final training camp cuts late last week.

“It’s not like, all of a sudden, magically, I learned how to stop a puck. It’s been hours and hours of practice. When everybody else is ready to get off the ice, it’s staying out there and continuing to work. All the little things make a big difference, and I feel like it’s paying off now.”

The Blackhawks could have claimed Karlsson — or Irving — off waivers last Thursday and not surrendered a pick for the services of the Swede.

In 26 games for the Flames over the last two seasons, Karlsson has a 5-9-8 record with a 2.79 goals-against average and a .905 save percentage.

The 29-year-old is in the final year of a one-way deal that pays him US$862,500 per season, but he lost the backup job to Irving during training camp.

On Monday morning, Karlsson was officially assigned to the AHL’s Abbotsford Heat.

Just a few hours later, though, he was switching hockey homes once again. After being acquired by the Blackhawks, he was immediately assigned to Chicago’s AHL affiliate in Rockford.

The seventh-round pick acquired by Flames GM Jay Feaster in the Karlsson deal originally belonged to the Ottawa Senators.

Just as important as the extra draft pick, the Flames also have an extra contract to play with. Each organization can have a maximum of 50 players under contract. With Karlsson off the books, the Flames now have 47 deals on their docket.